So my son is very loud. He makes sreaming noises and high shreiking noises all the time when playing with friends, especially when playing his video game. Also, when playing cars he is very vocal with his sound effects, but not too much shreiking. I think it is the worst when he is playing his game. He yells at the TV and screams almost constantly. He is well-behaved at school, has actually gotten an award for outstanding behavior, but at home it is a different story. I can handle some rough-housing, but I would love to get the screaming to stop. When we have company over or he has friends over, he does't really have any normal sort of coversation, mostly loud yelling, rough-housing, screaming, etc. He is however capable of conversation when not excited and just with me or his dad. Anyway, any advice or a consistent consequence to get the screaming to stop. Thanks moms!
Have you tried periodically touching him on the arm/shoulder and whispering in a low voice.... "inside voices please".... ?
I cannot stand the screaming and shrieking.. We had one neighbor child that could shriek and scream the paint off of the house.
She lived right next door and we could hear her even with their doors closed and our closed! She was also a child that also slammed screen doors, which was right next to our daughters room! AGhhhh!
We were all good friends in the neighborhood with children pretty much the same ages and we (all of the parents) always taught them, "inside voices", "Please lower your voice". And "no screaming, no shrieking, unless a part of your body has fallen off or you are really bleeding hard."
Touch his shoulder when he screams or shrieks and remind him, "inside voices". If you have to do this again tell him "second warning".. The 3rd time, You turn off the game. Then tell him he will have to go 24 hours without the game.
Do this every time. If it gets super bad, get rid of the games and let him know "it just seems you cannot control yourself so no more game."
I agree with the prior posts about using gentle reminders and such.
But another FUN way too is after you've reminded him several times and he's upset because he lost something (like the game), the next time you talk to him YOU start screaming everything. Clearly you'll get his attention. Return his behavior to him and see how he reacts? Ask him how he likes it, how did he feel?
I think games at this age really seem to make an impression. SHOWING him what it's like to be around someone who screams and makes noise will help him to "get it".
We recently did this with our 7 yr old who wasn't really paying attention, making eye contact, etc when I talked with her...like she could mulit-task. After repeated attempts to correct this, I played the game.
She was very upset I wasn't "listening" to her. She kept trying to get in my face, talk louder, etc. When I asked, "How does it make you feel when I do that?" She answered. I said, "Now you know how you make others feel. Let's not do that to each other anymore, OK." And it's worked!!! Still some gentle reminders, but it works, she remembers the "game" more than all my corrections.
best of luck
how about different games that he does not yell at and the reminder of inside voices.. and speak to him in quiet voice when in the house. Also talk to him about how exciting it is to have friends over and how to behave while friends are over.
Have his hearing checked-maybe he doesn't realize how loud he is.
My son is 9, and does lots of talking, humming, shrieking, singing, etc. For him, it is related to ADHD/Aspergers. He doesn't usually even know that he's doing it. When he's taking ADHD meds, it's like someone turned down the volume knob. He does best with only one friend over at a time. When he gets over excited I try to have him go to another room to take a break or get a drink of water. At school, they can send him out of the room on an errand to use up some energy(like carrying a heavy box).
You mention part of it when he plays video games....ground him from playing games for a day because of this if he has to me warned more than once.... (but don't turn it off immediately...which is worse!) He'll get the picture.
Have you tried a reward system?- like giving him a sticker for not screaming for a certain period of time. When he gets a certain number of stickers, he gets some kind of treat- it doesn't have to be a toy. It could be a trip to the bowling alley, or going out for ice cream, or whatever you know he'd like.
Hang in there!! :)
I don't know enough about your situation to say that I know the cause, but I have a neighbor boy who screams and shrieks ALL THE TIME, and the cause is very apparent. His mother and father scream all the time. Not at each other, but at him. Every little thing he does (even if it's not wrong!) his mother is shrieking at him to stop, etc etc.
Now, I don't know if he's getting it from you and his father...it doesn't sound like it, because you show concern. But he's getting it from somewhere. To me, it sounds like he's getting it from his video games, the shows he watches, etc. I know this little boy I mentioned also likes to play somewhat violent video games and watch things like BatMan, SpiderMan, etc...and he's always SCREAMING while he's acting them out.
So maybe just evaluate and eliminate "loud" things from his life. That's what I would do. When this child I'm speaking of is in my yard playing with the other children and they are ALL playing quietly, and when I QUIETLY lecture him to not be so noisy, he usually improves...until his mother shows up! :)
So just see what it is causing it, and take it out.
